Diving bell invention

ABSTRACT

A diving bell arrangement having a transportable counterweight in the form of a hollow enclosure which can be filled with sand or water to maintain its position or emptied of that sand or water while submerged, to facilitate its transportation, and pulleys extending between a submersible bell and the counterweight so that the bell may be raised and lowered against the force of the filled counterweight, but the counterweight resurfacing when empty, due to its own buoyancy.

0 United States Patent [151 3,641,776

Diamond Feb. 15, 1972 [54] DIVING BELL INVENTION 1,912,271 5/1933 [72] Inventor: Jack Diamond, 5135 Wissioming Road, [22] Filed: July 9, 1969 Primary Examiner.l. Karl Bell PP 340,224 Azt0meyHurvitz,Rose&Greene 52] us. Cl ..61/69, 61/465, 114/.5 T [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int.Cl. ..B63c 11/00 A diving bell arrangement having a transportable counter- [58] Field of Search ..61/46, 46.5, 69, 69.1,72.3, weigh in the form of a hollow enclosure which can be filled 61/81; 114/16, 16.5, ,5 with sand or water to maintain its position or emptied of that sand or water while submerged, to facilitate its transportation, [56] References Cited and pulleys extending between a submersible bell and the counterweight so that the bell may be raised and lowered UNITED STATES PATENTS against the force of the filled counterweight, but the counterweight resurfacing when empty, due to its own buoyancy. 34,426 2/1862 Howard ..114/.5 T 3,374,494 3/1968 Hunley ..9/8 1 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures DIVING BELL INVENTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Diving bells which normally float but which can at will be submerged by means of pulleys extending between a bell and a counterweight are known. However, in the past the transportation of such bells from place to place has been difficult and expensive because the counterweight must be massive. It is an object of this invention to provide a counterweight which is in the form of a hollow block having fittings through which sand or water can be introduced to sink the counterweight, and from which the sand or water can be suctioned to lighten the counterweight so that it may be readily raised to enable its transportation. The net weight of the counterweight when filled with air, will return it to the surface through its own buoyancy, to raise the counterweight, but the weight of the counterweight when filled or partially filled with sand or water is sufficiently great to enable the bell to be pulled down below the surface of the water. Reference is made to my prior US. Pat. No. 2,479,217, for a disclosure of which the present diving bell is an improvement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A buoyant diving bell secured by a pulley arrangement to a counterweight in the form of a hollow enclosure which can at will be primarily filled with water, or with sand, so that it may act as a counterweight to the buoyancy of the bell, which can then be pulled down into water at will.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in transverse section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view in section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1, is a diving bell capable of containing a small number of people. These enter the bell 10 via a door 1 l, which is watertight when closed. The bell is of hexagon or cylindrical cross section to facilitate its construction while affording minimum waste space internally, and is provided with observation portholes so that a person in the hell can observe sea biology when the bell is submerged. The bell 10 can be anchored off a dock or bulkhead, and access thereto achieved via floats 12. On the dock is located a winch 14 from which a cable 15 extends to the lower chock 16 of a pulley arrangement 17. The lower chock I6 is secured to a counterweight 20 in the form of a hollow enclosure 21 having four fittings 22, 23. The enclosure 21 may be made of relatively light metal so that its weight is not excessive. The fittings 22, 23 are removable to enable sand or water to be pumped into the enclosure or to be suctioned out of the enclosure, at will.

The pulley arrangement 17 includes an upper chock 18 secured to the bottom of bell 10, and multiple cables extending between chocks I6 and 18. The bell 10 is provided with a hollow annulus 25, secured to the wall of the bell by means of radially extending webs 26. The annulus 25 has the function of steadying the bell while it floats. From the bottom of the bell 10 extends a conical hollow enclosure 28 with vertex pointed down, and which may contain a number of sand bags 29. These add to the vertical stability of the bell, since they are below its center of gravity of the bell, but also serve to offset its buoyancy sufiiciently that when the bell contains its normal contingent of viewers, it is subject to being pulled, under water by cable and pulley arrangement 17, without the exertion of excessive force, but when released will rise to the surface.

In operation, viewers walk to the bell via floats I2 and enter. The door 11 is then closed and winch l4 started, to pull on cable 15. At this time the counterweight 20 is lying on the bottom and is filled or partially filled with sand or water. lts

wei ht, in comparison with the buoyancy of the bell, is then su icient that bell 10 can be pulled under water by cable and pulley arrangement 17. On completion of the time allotted for a viewing tension on cable 15 is released and the bell rises to the surface. The bell remains vertically stable even in rough water.

From time to time it is desirable to move the bell to a new location. At these times a diver removes or opens fittings 22, 23 and attaches a suction hose to 23 which removes the sand or water. Air will be pumped into fitting 22, at the same time, to add buoyancy. When the counterweight 20 has been made buoyant, it will return to the surface of its own record, the bell pulley block having been detached previously. At this time the counterweight and the bell, can be towed to a new location. There sand or water can be pumped into the counterweight 20, the fittings closed off, and thence the counterweight permitted to sink to the bottom, and the system is then ready for a new operation.

I claim:

1. A diving bell arrangement, comprising, a buoyant bell having vertical walls and having a closable door of sufiicient size to admit personnel, said door being arranged in one vertical wall of said bell, means secured to the underside of said bell to enhance its vertical stability and to reduce its buoyancy, a counterweight for said bell, said counterweight being a hollow enclosure and having fittings through which sand or water may be pumped into or suctioned out of said enclosure at will, and a cable and pulley arrangement extending between said bell and said hollow enclosure and arranged to tend to reduce the separation of said bell and enclosure on application of tension to a lead cable of said cable and pulley arrangement, the relative buoyancies of said bell and of said enclosure being such that said bell is pulled down on application of said tension when said enclosure contains sufficient sand or water, and said container is returned to surface when said container is suctioned of its sand or water, having first been disconnected from the lower block, wherein said means secured to the underside of said bell includes a laterally extending buoyant annulus which extends laterally well outside the confines of the bell and a weighted receptacle extending from the bottom of said bell having weight sufiicient to overcome a part of the buoyancy of said bell, a winch locatable on shore, and cable means for transferring power from said winch directly to said counterweight in a path external of said bell and thence via said cable and pulley arrangement to said bell for submerging said bell when said counterweight contains primarily sand and to lift said counterweight when said counterweight contains primarily water.

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1. A diving bell arrangement, comprising, a buoyant bell having vertical walls and having a closable door of sufficient size to admit personnel, said door being arranged in one vertical wall of said bell, means secured to the underside of said bell to enhance its vertical stability and to reduce its buoyancy, a counterweight for said bell, said counterweight being a hollow enclosure and having fittings through which sand or water may be pumped into or suctioned out of said enclosure at will, and a cable and pulley arrangement extending between said bell and said hollow enclosure and arranged to tend to reduce the separation of said bell and enclosure on application of tension to a lead cable of said cable and pulley arrangement, the relative buoyancies of said bell and of said enclosure being such that said bell is pulled down on application of said tension when said enclosure contains sufficient sand or water, and said container is returned to surface when said container is suctioned of its sand or water, having first been disconnected from the lower block, wherein said means secured to the underside of said bell includes a laterally extending buoyant annulus which extends laterally well outside the confines of the bell and a weighted receptacle extending from the bottom of said bell having weight sufficient to overcome a part of the buoyancy of said bell, a winch locatable on shore, and cable means for transferring power from said winch directly to said counterweight in a path external of said bell and thence via said cable and pulley arrangement to said bell for submerging said bell when said counterweight contains primarily sand and to lift said counterweight when said counterweight contains primarily water. 